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Introducing Owly
“Owly is a kind, yet lonely, little owl who's always on the search for new friends and adventure,” said Top Shelf's promotional copy. “The first graphic novel in the series contains two enchanting novellas, "The Way Home" & "The Bittersweet Summer," wherein Owly discovers the meaning of friendship, and that saying goodbye doesn't always mean forever. Relying on a mixture of symbols, icons, and expressions to tell his silent stories, Runton's clean, animated, and heartwarming style makes it a perfect read for anyone who's a fan of Jeff Smith's Bone or Mike Kunkel's Herobear and the Kid.” In the hands of lesser storyteller, the wonderful sentiment in Owly might devolve into sentimentality, but Runton is no lesser storyteller. He's one of those talents that just makes you wonder what he's going to be doing in five years if he's this good already. And don't let the fact that the word “charming” keeps coming up in reviews throw you. The work is charming and the stories will captivate you with their complete lack of guile. The reviews thus far for Owly have been stunning. "Charming ... reminiscent of children's literature in the style of Frog and Toad, or Winnie the Pooh and Piglet," said Publishers Weekly. "Owly says more about trust and friendship without using a single word than many other longer, prose-filled works I've seen over the years. ... charming from start to finish," wrote Greg McElhatton of icomics.com. "A simply brilliant debut," said Bill Baker of worldfamouscomics.com's Baker's Dozen. Scoop caught up with Andy Runton and hit him with a few basic questions. We're quite sure we'll be talking with him again and that you'll be hearing of him in many different venues over the years to come. Scoop: What's your background? Any formal training? Andy Runton: I spent quite a long time in school, but not art school. I have a masters degree in Industrial Design from Georgia Tech... so I guess that counts, but I don't have any formal comics or storytelling training. In school, I focused on graphic and interface design. I always loved cartoons, though, and I actually used a lot of cartooning examples and character design techniques (even Understanding Comics) in my thesis which dealt with how to give a personality to products. Scoop: When did you start drawing? Andy Runton: I've been drawing for as long as I can remember. I used to love school reports... not the reports themselves, but all of the pictures I would draw to go with them. It was just something I did all the time. My mom's parents live in south Florida, so we would drive down there and be in the car for hours. I didn't mind; I had plenty of time to draw while riding in the back seat. Scoop: What was your first exposure to comics? What were the circumstances? Andy Runton: I remember my Mom reading me the Sunday comics... that was probably my first exposure. As far as stand-alone comic books, I remember my older brother having old Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica comics. But I first walked into a real comic store in the early 80's searching for Transformers and G.I. Joe comics at The Old Book and Xeno's in Jacksonville Florida. I can still remember looking around in amazement for the first time at the walls of comics. Scoop: What were your early favorites? Andy Runton: As far as Sunday comics, I always loved Ziggy and Peanuts. But as far as comic books, I really got into G.I.Joe (because of the toys) and I bought one of my first issues at a Lil'Champ convenience store by my house. It was issue 21, "Silent Interlude," which didn't have any words. It's still one of my favorite comics. The issues that followed, with Snake Eyes' origin story, completely captivated me. I was hooked. Pretty soon I found the X-Men and X-Factor, who I stuck with for a while but then I discovered the Turtles and that's where I stayed for years. Scoop: Did you want to draw them right away or did that come later? Andy Runton: I certainly tried to draw them, especially Peanuts. But I was always frustrated because I didn't understand how to construct drawings. "How to Draw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was a turning point but I didn't really understand penciling or other comic practices until years later. Scoop: How did you come up with Owly? Andy Runton: Owly started out as a doodle on a post-it note. I used to stay up late and leave notes for my mom. She's always loved my cute little drawings - the cuter the better. So I drew this little owl. If it was a phone message there would be Owly holding a tiny phone. But I drew him for years and after a while he sort of became my mascot. Pretty soon, he had his own group of friends. At the same time I was trying to come up with a comic book idea... never considering little Owly. But pretty soon it just clicked. Scoop: We've seen you at shows as people see Owly for the first time. What have the reactions been like? Andy Runton: It's amazing. Someone will notice Owly and smile. Then they'll pick up the comics, and the stories will draw them in. They're silent and easy to follow, so it doesn't take long to read. The funny thing is, if they buy one of the comics, they'll usually come back later or the next day and they'll buy the rest. I guess there's just something about little Owly that everyone can relate to. It makes me feel great, because the stories aren't action packed or full of violence, they're personal and honest and I'd like to think that maybe that's enough. Scoop: How did you get hooked up with Top Shelf? Andy Runton: I first met Chris Staros at DragonCon in Atlanta two years ago. He introduced me to the Top Shelf line, and I was blown away. These were personal and emotional stories, with compelling characters. These were the kind of comics I'd been searching for, for a long time. I ended up showing the first little Owly story to him a few months later at MegaCon in Orlando. He was incredibly supportive. Over the next year, I kept creating longer and longer stories, publishing mini-comics, and going to comic shows. Along the way I became good friends with Chris and writer/Top Shelf employee Rob Venditti. I live in Atlanta so it was easy for me to just kind of tag a long. After a while Chris and Brett decided that Owly was ready for prime-time and picked me up. Scoop: How many Owly books are there so far? Andy Runton: Officially, just the one from Top Shelf, but the second in the series is already in the works. Originally there were three mini-comics. Scoop: And what will be featured in the Top Shelf version? Andy Runton: The Top Shelf version collects mini-comic #2 "The Way Home" and #3 "The Bittersweet Summer. My first Owly mini-comic, "Stories of a little Owl," contains two short stories that might make it into the series a little farther down the line as back-up or bonus stories. Scoop: Are you telling stories aimed at kids or stories to entertain yourself that happen to be all ages material? Andy Runton: The stories aren't really aimed at any particular age group. They're really for all ages. I guess there are certain aspects of the stories that makes them seem targeted for younger readers, but below the surface, there's a lot going on emotionally. I understand that and want to make sure you never put the book down feeling sad or disappointed. These are the kind of stories I always wanted to read. They're such a combination of all of the things that I love, and they're so personal, that I've been really surprised and delighted by the reaction so far.
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